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Eph (they, them)

Eph@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 1 month ago

Philosophy, evolutionary psychology, futurism, anarchism. We analyze literature through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Sometimes we use we for I. they/them

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Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987, Macmillan) 4 stars

Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain …

Elements of a Great SciFi but Not Executed

3 stars

No real world building even though the world we get a glimpse of is fascinating. We are left wanting and not in a good way. A lot of it was, well, meaningless. We want this book to be more. We actually need it to be more. That it doesn't even com close is what is so depressing. That said, we are eager to read the next recommended book in the series to hopefully see if he does give us more, in a good way.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987, Macmillan) 4 stars

Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain …

It was a slow read as it never really captivated me.

The one reason I wanted to read it was to explore an iteration of humanity that came close to what I am imagining for a world creation in a SciFi book I am trying to write. In that, this book failed as others have commented. We are given numerous objective and not always reliable snapshots of the society, but we don't really get into it.

We wonder if Banks was intentionally trying to go against what makes good scifi, and exploiting what makes poor scifi. We are going to give it 3 stars though which we cannot really defend except we are eager to turn to the next recommended book in the series.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987, Macmillan) 4 stars

Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain …

Content warning Analysis of a character

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Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (Paperback, 2005, Orbit) 4 stars

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, …

Arrogance

4 stars

This is a book about arrogance. The arrogance of going up against a culture (indeed, THE Culture) that can do anything, of going up against the certainty of faith, of going it alone, of reliance on technology or the rejection of it. I spent a while thinking about what this book is "about" after its unusual conclusion. I think it's ultimately about how very important it is to work together, to be together. A culture that destroys individualism so thoroughly that each person is ultimately disconnected from every other is as bad as a religious community that rejects common ground with other communities, which is itself as bad as a man who is driven only to accomplish his own ends. Every bad thing that happens to an individual is either the result of working alone--even with the best intentions--or of an uncaring, random universe inflicting itself on people left unprotected. …

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987, Macmillan) 4 stars

Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain …

Content warning Social world building and psychology of the Culture

Fenton Johnson: At the Center of All Beauty (2020, Norton & Company Limited, W. W.) 4 stars

Solitude and silence are positive gestures. This is why Buddhists say we can learn what we need to know sitting on the cushion. This is why I say you can learn what you need to know from the silent, solitary disciplines of reading and writing, the consciously chosen, deliberately inhabited discipline of silence.

Johnson, Fenton. At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life (p. 7). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

At the Center of All Beauty by  (Page 7)

We can no longer live sanely without space for silence and solitude. Silence and solitude are vital to our flourishing. They are positive environments. In that solitude, we often read or write, or we just sit. In this manner we come to know.

Mary Oliver: Poetry Handbook (Paperback, 1994, Harvest Books) 4 stars

The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem--the heat of a star as opposed to the shape of a star, let us say--exists in a mysterious, unmapped zone: not unconscious, not subconscious, but cautious.

Poetry Handbook by  (Page 7 - 8)

Asterisks imply text italics. Despite the field day for cognitive, neuro, and brain scientists (mysterious unmapped part of the brain), the idea that true poetry, good poetry, emerges from a mystical aspect of consciousness is enchanting, and poetic. One wonders though how actual it is? Can an atheist, say, be a poet? Interesting.